Actor Kip Pardue fined for 'serious misconduct' over masturbation claims [View all]
Actor Kip Pardue was fined $6,000 by the Hollywood union SAG after being found guilty of serious misconduct for allegedly masturbating in front of a horrified female co-star, it emerged Sunday.
The Remember the Titans actor, 43, was accused of sexual harassment on the set of the made-for-TV movie Mogulettes in May of last year by actress Sarah Scott, 35, who says he moved her hand onto his aroused crotch while they lay under the covers on set.
The actress, who was clad in underwear and nipple pasties at the time, alleges that the actor then masturbated in front of her once they were alone in a dressing room. Scott, who played Courtney Love in 2015s Soaked in Bleach for TV, told the Los Angeles Times that she filed a police report but then did not want to press charges.
She instead lodged a formal complaint with the actors union, SAG-AFTRA, which found Pardue guilty of serious misconduct during a private hearing of its disciplinary committee, according to a letter Scott showed the Times.
Another actress, Andrea Bogart, gave an affidavit to the panel claiming that Pardue left her in utter shock when he masturbated in front of her, too, after a scene for TVs Ray Donovan in 2014, according to the report.
The committees decision censures and admonishes Pardue for inappropriate and unprofessional conduct and fined him $6,000, which could be halved if he takes sexual-harassment training, Scott told the paper. I would have liked to have seen a couple of years suspension, but this is a step in the right direction.
What was the most important for me was that others who come forward in the future know that the union is willing to take these complaints seriously and create a space where they can be heard.
A SAG-AFTRA spokesperson would not discuss with the Times any specifics regarding disciplinary matters due to the confidentiality of such cases.
A rep for Pardue told the paper that he never engaged in any nonconsensual behavior.
https://pagesix.com/2019/07/07/actor-kip-pardue-fined-for-serious-misconduct-over-masturbation-claims/